A new report from Global Industry Analysts Inc. predicts that the global market for direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing will be worth $1.9 billion US by 2026.
What Is Driving the Growth of the Genetic Testing Market?
The report highlights several factors driving the growth of genetic testing, a critical tool in many clinical applications including non-invasive prenatal testing, treatment selection for people with cancer, diagnosis of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, and many others.
Factors driving current growth include:
- The rising global prevalence of numerous genetic disorders, for example, Alzheimer’s disease, cystic fibrosis, cancer, and diabetes
- New technological advances
- Rising adoption of personalized medicine combined with health care expenditure
- Increasing user awareness and disposable income
- Declining costs of such tests, as well as the confidentiality they afford
Factors likely to drive future growth:
- Drug discovery
- Innovative diagnostic techniques
- Advanced treatments
Market Segments
Two segments of the DTC genetic testing market the report highlights include the ancestry and relationship testing segment, the most common type of test, and the nutrigenomics testing segment. The nutrigenomics segment is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.6 percent for the next seven-year period, while the ancestry and relationship testing segment is predicted to grow at a 9.8 percent CAGR.
The Outlook for Continued Growth
Despite the effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the report estimates the global market for DTC genetic testing at US $1.1 billion for 2022, predicting it will grow at a CAGR of 12.3 percent over the next four years. In particular, the US market is expected to be worth $478.5 million by 2026, the largest amount of the countries included.
Reasons for this include the US public’s growing tendency to identify chronic illness early and its growing awareness of genetic diseases, as well as the nation’s medical advancements, the report notes. Another reason for the rapid growth of the US DTC genetic testing is that “the regulatory mechanism in the US is relatively better streamlined compared to other markets,” according to the report, which notes that Europe is the next leading market, with its growth driven by increasing government spending.